[FLARES] Hurricane Charley Recovery Efforts

[Ron Wetjen]

Finally getting a chance to get caught up on my e-mail!!

Thanks for ALL the offers of help ... I'm trying to acknowledge each one 
as I can (usually AFTER my stint at the EOC).

Right now, we're pretty much on a day to day basis as to how long we'll 
be active.  Communications is slowly starting to return with portable 
cellphone towers and satellite telephones ($6.00 per minute).  But a lot 
of the logistical and informal traffic between EOC's, Staging, Shelters, 
and other sites, is now the primary focus of the amateurs.

One issue we have, is keeping track of who is coming and where they are 
going.  With many folks coming down on their own (freelancing), it's 
hard to keep track of the resources we have ... how many are coming, 
when, and where they are going.  The other issue is too many people 
trying to do the job of recruiting the help!  I've been asked by Dave to 
handle this for him, which is why I've been posting e-mail and 
attempting to get names off of "Bigstick" or 146.730.  If you want to 
assist, PLEASE go through the Sarasota EOC.  We have direct contact with 
Dave, and will forward the information to Dave as to the number of 
people available, so he can deploy the correct amount of folks to where 
they need to go.

Today we deployed a group of Amateurs to DeSoto County ... and with 
others going on their own without letting ME (or Dave) know they were 
going, we ended up with more people than needed!  We ended up sending 
some back ... this is a problem.

I will be heading over to the EOC again in the morning, but will check 
my e-mail before I leave - 7:30 AM at the latest.  I'll try to 
acknowledge any e-mails I get for offers overnight.  Anything e-mail 
received after 8 AM, will have to be considered for the next day, since 
I won't be able to add you to the list once I've arrived at the EOC.  We 
will be monitoring "Bigstick" and 146.730 MHz (100 PL) in Sarasota, for 
other assistance, once we arrive at the EOC.  If you want to help, great 
... all I ask is to let us know how many are coming, what time, and what 
day.

Thanks,

Ron  WD4AHZ